


Rapunzel

by Innibis



Category: Battlestar Galactica (2003)
Genre: Abuse, Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Alternate Universe - Rapunzel Fusion, F/M, Happy Ending, Pilots, Suicidal Thoughts, frakked-up fairy tale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-03
Updated: 2018-06-03
Packaged: 2019-05-17 20:32:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14838693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Innibis/pseuds/Innibis
Summary: A re-telling of Rapunzel with poor Lee locked away in a tower.





	1. Part I

**Author's Note:**

> Putting the blame squarely on recent conversations with other old school shippers that made me want to possibly start writing again after 72 years off, but in the meantime I'm moving stuff over from LJ. For posterity I guess? It was a miracle I remembered that account’s password. . .
> 
> Many thanks to my fairy godbeta, workerbee73 who locked me away in a tower until I wrote this to her satisfaction.

A long time ago in a land far away, there lived a couple who was very much in love but their lives were overshadowed by their desire for a baby. After years of fruitless effort, Ellen became pregnant, and she and Saul were filled with joy at the prospect of a child.  
  
Next door to the happy couple lived a powerful attorney named Romo Lampkin. Ellen and Saul Tigh never socialized with their neighbor, for he was frequently gone for long stretches of time, trying to solidify his circle of influence and winning landmark civil rights cases. He was reputed to ruin people at the slightest provocation using his enormous influence and was rumored to be insane, so even when he was home, the Tighs avoided him. What became difficult to avoid, however, was Ellen's growing preoccupation with Lampkin's garden.  
  
Romo Lampkin, along with being a fearsome lawyer, was a fabulous gardener. His azaleas were lush and his lilacs fragrant. He also had a large plot for vegetables which he tended with great care and attention. Every day of her pregnancy, Ellen would look over the charming, ivy-covered river rock wall and into her neighbor's garden, admiring the plump tomatoes in the summer sun and smelling the rosemary in the air while listening to the music of fat, fuzzy bumble bees.   
  
On one of the rare days Lampkin was home, Ellen happened to be looking into his garden as he dug up a plant from his vegetable bed with blue bell-flowers. Unable to resist, she questioned him. "Mr. Lampkin," she called over the wall, "what is that? I'm not familiar with it."  
  
"Ah, good morning Mrs. Tigh," he replied in his whiskey soft voice. "This is a rapunzel plant, it's also called rampion. The leaves are edible, but it’s the root that is delicious in a summer salad."  
  
"Rapunzel," Ellen mused.   
  
"Yes," he said, standing up and tucking the plant into his basket. "Good day to you Mrs. Tigh. And congratulations on the baby." He nodded in the direction of her barely protruding belly before walking into his house.  
  
That night, Ellen dreamed of a large rapunzel salad. She woke up the next morning with a strong craving for the root. Ellen stared over the garden wall, but Lampkin never came out that day, or the day after that, or the day after that.  
  
Saul had never seen his wife behave in such a manner before. She was not an obsessive person by nature. After a week of watching her pine over a vegetable she had never tasted, he decided to take matters into his own hands.   
  
On a night he was certain that Lampkin was away from home, Saul climbed over the rock wall and dug up two rapunzel plants. The next day, Ellen had her salad. Far from satiating the craving, once Ellen tasted the root, she found that she wanted more of it. Twice more under the dark of night he stole into the lawyer's garden, skirting beds of sunflowers and hopping over the picturesque babbling brook to get to the vegetable plot. The third time, while elbow deep in dirt, Saul's face was suddenly pushed into the rich soil.  
  
"Steal from me, will you neighbor?" Romo's tone remained even as he kept his hand on the back of Saul's head. "By this time tomorrow you won't even own the shirt that's on your back."  
  
Saul struggled to hold his breath so as not to breathe in the dirt that was ground into his mouth and nose. The pressure on his head eased and he pushed up violently, spitting out clumps of earth and searching for air. "My wife," he gasped. "Ellen needs the rapunzel. She craves it day and night and I would do anything for her, anything to keep her from pain."  
  
"Very commendable, I'm sure," Romo replied. "That doesn’t change the fact that you stole from me. Took something that I hold dear, that I sweat over to forget the scum of the earth and the slimy, self-serving politicians I deal with on a regular basis. And now I find theft in my own home. It is not something I'll tolerate."  
  
"We're having a baby," Saul pleaded. "How can I bring a baby into this world if I have nothing?"  
  
"An interesting dilemma," Romo mused. "Why would you want to bring a baby into this cursed existence anyway? Tell me, will you teach it to steal and lie? Will you teach it to accept the world at face value so that it will never amount to anything more than an old, retired sailor such as yourself, or a sailor's wife, always waiting for her husband to come home with a pack of ill-educated brats running around her knees?"  
  
"Like you could do any better," Saul snarled.  
  
Romo tilted his head in consideration, and thought for a long moment. "How about a trade, Mr. Tigh? What if I say that you may keep your cottage and your horses and your pension?"  
  
"I'd say you've got yourself a deal," Saul replied. "I'll, uh, just put this dirt back--"  
  
Romo chuckled. "Surely you didn't think it would be that easy. No, what I am offering is an exchange. In exchange for not taking all of you and your charming wife's earthly possessions, you will give me your child."  
  
Saul gaped, "Our child? Listen here, you slimy bastard, there is no _frakking_ way you are getting your hands on our baby."  
  
"Your parental protectiveness is touching, I'm sure,” Romo said. “However think about raising a child in destitution. Your wife is not fit for a life of poverty. How long do you think she'll stay with you? How long do you think your child will survive on the disease ridden filth of the street? I assure you that there is only one correct answer to this conundrum that you face, and it isn’t the one that ends with Ellen giving birth in the poor house."  
  
Saul saw no way out. No reasonable way to justify condemning his own flesh and blood to a miserable existence. So he agreed to Romo's terms and together they climbed over the wall and told Ellen. The rest of the pregnancy was a miserable time for the Tighs and despite total access to the lush garden next door, Ellen never ate another rapunzel root for the rest of her life.   
  
She gave birth to a healthy baby boy. As a first and final act of parenthood, they named the baby Leland after Saul's father and Rampion after the baby's parents' folly. And so Leland Rampion was handed over to Romo Lampkin, swaddled in a blanket knit by Ellen's mother. They never saw their son again.

* * *

Kara was the daughter of a king, but her father had died when she was very young. On his deathbed, King Dreilide had pulled his only child close and said, "Don't be afraid, Kara, for I will always be with you. You are a very special little girl, destined to do great things." His voice was weak, but his eyes were strong in love for her as he had taken his last breaths. "I love you. Listen to your mother." He had raised his gaze to the anguished face of his queen. "See you on the other side, Socrata."   
  
At first, Kara hadn’t noticed the change in her mother's behavior. Socrata had always been a devoutly religious, emotionally prickly woman, and if she was paying more attention than usual to her daughter and going to more religious services and visiting more spiritual leaders, it was only to be expected in the wake of her husband's death. It wasn’t until she was a little older that Kara discovered that her mother was seeking out different religious opinions on her destiny. Socrata had clung to her husband's final words, believing that they were a message from a divinely enlightened dying king; that Kara was special, set apart by the gods, and that it was her duty to ensure that her daughter fulfilled that destiny.  
  
After having been dragged from shaman to priestess in a seemingly unending quest, Kara had finally found herself standing in front of the holy man, Leoben. He had wrapped her long braid around his hand, forcing her head to remain still as he moved uncomfortably close and stared at her. "I have been waiting for you, Princess Kara," he said, and Kara had almost choked on her fear as Leoben had planted a kiss on her forehead. That very afternoon, Leoben moved into the palace. He became Socrata's official religious advisor and was placed in charge of Kara's spiritual development. The queen and the holy man were active in their assertion that Kara must be worthy of her destiny. They isolated her from her peers, drilled the Scriptures that supposedly held the key to Kara's future into her head, and harshly punished any straying from the righteous path laid out before her.  
  
As Socrata had a country to run and Leoben had other religious business to tend to, Kara spent her childhood escaping the palace as often as possible. She wandered the forest that surrounded the castle. She tagged after her father's knights, persuading them to teach her how to ride and hunt and fight, which the older ones did out of loyalty to the long dead king. She spied on the maids and learnt the politics of the castle and the intimate details of the lives of the gentry. She made appearances at state dinners and other occasions when her presence was requested. It was a lonely existence. As she grew older, her royal obligations grew in number and her mother's eye turned toward making an appropriate match for her daughter. The wildness that had been cultivated among the trees threatened to engulf her as she knelt day after day in front of Leoben's idols, his hand stroking her hair as he lectured her on the gods. Her independence writhed inside her like a living thing as she sat night after night in the presence of the people who treated her like a prized mare, a beautiful, willful creature to be paraded around until a man with the right bloodline came along.   
  
One such night, when her mother had dressed her in blue silk and diamonds and snapped at her not to slouch, Kara excused herself as early as possible from the table and walked straight out of the castle and into the woods. Winding through the trees, she made her way farther and farther into the heart of the forest, her dress catching on the brambles. She half hoped to lose her way entirely. It was then that she heard a voice in the dark singing one of her favorite arias.  
  
The voice was strong and on key but not remotely good, and it made Kara smile for what felt like the first time in a year. That confident, nearly defiant singing with no regard to anyone else's opinion was one of the more freeing things she had ever heard. Kara followed the tenor deeper into the forest until she emerged into a small clearing with a tower in the middle of it.  
  
The tower was tall and narrow and appeared to have no door, only a window at the top emitting light and that grin-inducing voice. "Hey!" she yelled up to the window  
  
The song stopped abruptly and a silhouette of a head appeared, leaning down out of the window. Kara couldn't make out any features in the dark but was still discomfited by the scrutiny. After a few silent moments the head spoke.   
  
"Did Lampkin send you?"  
  
"Lampkin?” Kara furrowed her brow. “The lawyer? No. I was just taking a walk and heard you singing.”  
  
"You'd better leave," the man in the tower advised. "He'll be here soon and it would not be comfortable for either of us if he found you here."  
  
"Are you joking?" Kara asked. "Why would he care?"  
  
The man in the window sighed. "It's too hard to explain shouting back and forth like this and not at all the appropriate time. If you hide in the trees over to the east," he gestured in the direction, "you'll be able to see how he gets up here." He hesitated. "If you want, you can come up after he's gone."  
  
"How stupid do you think I am, climbing into a strange man's tower in the middle of the night?" Kara demanded.   
  
Exasperated, the man called back down, "Well I won’t hold a conversation like this. If you’re too scared then you might as well go home." Before Kara could reply, the head withdrew. She stood in the clearing for a minute before shrugging and heading eastward.

* * *

"Leland Rampion, are you prepared to sing for your supper?"  
  
Lee sighed, almost hoping that the girl who had been yelling into his tower a few minutes earlier had decided to go home as opposed to hear his wretched given name shouted to the skies by his wretched jailer. Still, he moved quickly with his chain dragging behind him to pull a shirt over his head. He then sat on the bed and waited for the only person he had ever known to climb into the tower.  
  
Romo Lampkin threw a bag in through the window and then pulled himself into the room. "Have you done anything useful this week? Anything at all that would make it worth my while to feed you and clothe you and give you a roof over your head?"  
  
"Not a thing," Lee replied. "Why don’t you turn me out and leave me to fend for myself?" He reached for the bag despite himself. Romo was very diligent about giving Lee just enough food to make it to the next week and he was hungry. He considered himself lucky that there was a cistern in the tower and that it rained frequently.   
  
Lampkin pulled the bag out of reach, "Now, now, time to tell me what you've learned. We can't have a future leader behaving like a spoiled royal or a lazy peasant."   
  
"How long?" Lee demanded. "How long are you going to keep me chained like an animal?"  
  
Lampkin looked affronted, "An animal? I have given you the finest education in the world, despite your humble beginnings and unfortunate parents."  
  
"Yes, but to what end?" Lee asked, pacing the room, growling as he tripped over his chain. He stooped down and grabbed it, shaking it at Lampkin. "Is this your idea of enlightened living?" He threw the chain to the floor and strode forward to stand tall in front of his captor.  
  
"You're the bright shiny beacon of hope," Romo said with a smirk. "I need to keep you untouched by the corruption of society until I can be sure that you will not succumb to its evils."  
  
"I am a grown man, my character is fixed," Lee shouted. He took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. "You have given me the world in books and poetry and atlases and languages, but I have never even touched a tree or seen the ocean. What on earth makes you think that I will be able to rule a country when I've never even held a conversation with a decent human being?"  
  
"I have been grooming you for the role since the day you were born. You will be a leader of men, and apply all the best and most modern ideas to the task. You are a creature of my own design, Leland-- of course you are up for the task."  
  
"A social experiment, run _by_ your social experiment," Lee said with resignation. He knew his purpose, a tool cultivated to think, not to feel, an embodiment of the idea that law is reason free from passion.   
  
"Such melodrama," Lampkin shook his head in mock dismay. "You know the state of the world. You've read the oppressive and bloody history of the kingdoms that surround us. I have molded you into a man of principle and intellect. Surely you can see where your duty lies."  
  
As much as he disagreed with Lampkin's usurping of his self-determination, Lee was very well aware of the responsibilities inherent with his opportunities. He had no idea if his sense of obligation was something he had come to on his own or something he had been manipulated into by his captor, but it was there just the same. So he began his weekly task of rattling through the languages he'd practiced, the countries he'd studied, how many godsdamned push-ups he'd done, how many constitutions he'd committed to memory. _Someday, someday, someday,_ was the mantra, the words that beat through his brain the cadence he worked out to. Someday he would escape. Whether it was to rule a country or climb a mountain, or even if he had to throw himself out the frakking window and break his neck, he would get out of this tower. 

Someday.

* * *

Kara, having hidden in bored but alert silence for the past half an hour, sat up as Romo Lampkin climbed back out of the window. He pulled down the ladder and carried it into the brush west of the clearing. She watched him hide it in brambles before walking off into the forest. She waited a few moments to be sure he was gone and then scrambled to her feet, wiping cursory hands over the ruined silk to brush off dead leaves and dirt. "Leland," she called tentatively as she stood in front of the door-less tower once more.  
  
There was a long pause and then the single word, "Lee," came floating back down to her.   
  
Kara rolled her eyes, "Fine, Lee. Do you--" she hesitated, "Do you still want me to come up?"  
  
"Yeah--I mean, if you want to," he replied.  
  
"Okay," Kara said. She was nervous, but nerves had only ever served to steel her resolve, so she marched over to where Lampkin had stashed the ladder and dragged it out. She carried the ladder over to the tower, propped it against the stone wall, and took a deep breath before climbing the rungs.  
  
When she got to the top, the first thing she saw was a hand reaching out to help her over the window ledge, and she took it, sliding through and into a well lit, richly furnished room. There were books everywhere, open and closed, they lay in haphazard heaps, the curved walls lined with shelves of them, the mantle stacked high, covering every available surface. There were a few over-stuffed arm chairs near the fireplace and an enormous four poster bed in the center. The grey stone floors were dotted aimlessly with colorful, patterned rugs. Kara looked down to the hand still holding hers, and then lifted her eyes to meet those of the owner of the voice from the tower.  
  
They were blue. So blue and so intense that she couldn’t help but stumble back a step. Lee followed her, keeping his grip on her hand. As if in a trance, he raised his other hand and stroked his fingers along Kara's cheek. She came to her senses and wrenched her hand free as she jerked her head back. "What the frak do you think you're doing?" she asked flatly of the beautiful young man in front of her.  
  
Lee blushed. "I'm sorry," he stammered out, "It's just--I've just never seen a girl before. You're very soft," he added, nodding his head as if he were confirming a theory.  
  
"I'm-- what?' Kara was flabbergasted. "You've never seen a girl before?"  
  
"I've never seen anyone but Lampkin," Lee said, stepping back and putting his hands in his pockets and stared at the floor. "Well, technically I must have seen my mother and maybe my father, but I don’t remember, so that doesn't count." He looked up at Kara, "Does it? Or is it like the tree in the woods question? Like does it make a sound if there's no one--" Lee trailed off as Kara held her hand up, face bemused.  
  
"Let's start with the basics before we get to the philosophy," she said, holding out her hand again. "I'm Kara."  
  
"Lee," he said and took her hand again and pulled her closer, running a thumb over her knuckles before remembering himself. He blushed at his indiscretion, drew himself up, shook Kara's hand firmly and let it go. "Would you care for some wine?" he asked, formality seeping into his voice, at odds with the hopeful curiosity in his eyes.  
  
"Sure," Kara said, slowly, not sure what to do with the strange man in front of her. She was wondering if the best course of action might be to climb out the window when his back was turned when her attention was caught by an iron chain dragging across the floor as Lee went to his wine rack. She followed it with her eyes until she saw that it was actually attached to Lee.   
  
"What is that?" she asked.  
  
Lee looked down, "A chain," he said shortly, pulling out a bottle.  
  
"I _know_ it’s a chain. Why are you chained?" Kara began walking backwards to the window, "Are you crazy or criminal or something?"  
  
"No," Lee said not making any attempt to move toward her, "I'm an experiment. Or a whim. Or a captive," he frowned. "I'm not exactly sure what I am, other than trapped. Lampkin wanted to raise a child to be a leader unexposed to societal norms, teach him language and art and philosophy and literature – anything he considered worthy. So my parents gave me to him, he raised me, taught me how to read and then put me in this tower, far away from human corruption." He snorted. "Well, human corruption other than his own."  
  
"But why the chain?" Kara asked again, focusing on a single point.   
  
"I tried to escape," he said. "I've been chained since I was twelve." He wiggled his foot at her. "You can get used to anything."  
  
Kara, walked toward him. "You've been a prisoner your entire life?" she asked in amazement. Lee nodded warily. "So have I," Kara said softly, surprising herself by admitting something like that to a total stranger. Following the strong, sympathetic impulse that surged through her body at recognizing a kindred spirit, she took his hand and brought it to her face.   
  
Lee traced the curve of her ear, a barely there feather of a touch. He slid a finger down her jaw and over her collarbone before he raised his eyes to hers. "You are beautiful," he breathed.  
  
Kara grinned, enjoying the mild fluttering in her heart. "How would you know? You've never seen a woman before. . ." her voice trailed off as he moved in closer and, looking almost apologetic, like he just couldn’t help himself, Lee bent his head and brushed his lips over the hollow of her throat, taking in a deep breath of her skin as he did so. "Okay," she said shakily, closing her eyes in spite of herself, "I think that's enough for our first meeting."  
  
Lee's face dropped at his mistake, "Yes—forgive me,” he stumbled over his words. “From what I've read, ladies in this kingdom don't take kindly to being pawed by complete strangers. My sincerest apologies." He stepped away, and opened the wine, pouring it into two glasses as she watched.  
  
"Who says I'm a lady?" Kara asked with a smile, not wanting Lee to feel ashamed. "I hid in the woods and then climbed into a man's bedroom window."  
  
"Your dress," Lee said. "Your bearing, accent, confidence, courage, the way you carry yourself . . . you are most definitely a lady." He offered Kara a glass and then held his up in salute. "To you Kara, I am very glad to have met you." His eyes were warm.  
  
"To us, Leland Rampion," she said and tapped her glass against his, "to new friends." And Kara was rewarded with a blinding smile that warmed her in all the little icy corners of her soul that she had long learned to ignore.


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey Lee, up for visitors?" Kara's voice floated in the mid-afternoon air. Lee couldn't believe it. He had almost convinced himself that the beautiful girl who had climbed into his tower three days before was a hallucination. Just one more step down the path to total insanity. He had been losing grip of himself the past year, not sure where Lampkin left off and he began. Not sure that there ever had been a real Lee, like maybe he was just a rapunzel plant that Lampkin had cultivated in his garden who was suffering from delusions of grandeur. No tower, no parents who gave him up, certainly no blonde.

"Leeeeeland," she called again.

He shook his head and stood up from where he had been lying flat on his back on the cold stone floor, contemplating the ceiling. And there she was, grinning up at him and toting a basket. "Kara. Hi. Yeah, get the ladder," he said. He found himself tripping over his chain as he whirled around, trying to make his bed and stack his books as quickly as he could.

"Smooth," Kara said, regarding him from the window.

He shrugged uncomfortably, "Wasn't expecting company."

"I'm just teasing you." She handed him the basket and hauled herself in. "I brought you something," she said, gesturing at him. He put it on the table and opened the basket to find several bottles of liquor and a pack of cards. "We'll have to find a place to stash it so Lampkin won’t find out, but you have so much stuff in here, that shouldn’t be difficult."

"Why did you come back?" he blurted out, cursing at the hurt look on her face, "I mean, I wanted you to come back, but then I thought you wouldn’t bother because I'm some prisoner in a tower, so why would you? And then I thought that you probably weren't real anyway and . . ." he trailed off and groaned, putting his hands over his face. "Gods. I don’t know how to talk to you—but I'm really glad you're here."

He felt Kara move closer to him. "I'm glad to be here too," she said taking his hands and pulling them from his face. Lee turned his hands over and grasped hers, drawing a thumb over her calloused palm. "C'mon," Kara said, releasing his hands. "I'm going to teach you to play cards."

"Why?' Lee asked, following her to the small table. "So that we have something to do besides look at each other next time I come over." He felt himself grinning like an idiot and blurted out,

"You're coming back?"

Kara smiled at him. "Yeah, I'm coming back."   


* * *

Kara always had bruises. She said that they were from riding hard and kicking people's asses. But Lee had his doubts, especially when the bruises weren't always bruises, but burns and scrapes and small intersecting lines in too perfect patterns.

One day when Kara was giving Lee a hand-to-hand combat lesson and he was shamelessly taking advantage of their closeness by running his hands up under her tunic to her stomach—ostensibly by accident, of course—he felt a ring of scarred flesh near her hip. He stilled and Kara knocked his knees out from under him. "You have to pay more attention than that," she said, panting lightly.

But Lee was focused. He gripped the hem of her tunic and started to lift it, "I felt something on your skin," he said, single-mindedly tugging at the shirt even as she tried to hold it down.

"No," she said to him. "Kara, I'm not trying to ogle you or anything, I just want to see . . ."

"No!" she said wrenching away from him. "Keep your hands to yourself. You can never just keep your hands to yourself!"

"I—I didn’t think you minded," Lee stammered, suddenly feeling every bit the graceless freak in the tower.

"Yeah, well you thought wrong," Kara spat at him, moving to the window and climbing out.

"Kara!" he called after her, but she pulled the ladder down and disappeared into the woods without once looking back.

Lee watched the spot where she disappeared for a long time, his stomach coiling with the familiar bile of self loathing.   


* * *

Kara cursed herself as she jogged lightly through the darkening forest. It was two days since she had last seen Lee. She was certain that she had hurt his feelings. He was a lot like a little kid in some ways, not knowing the right things to say and not picking up on subtle clues. Or even not-so-subtle clues. She knew that he was only concerned for her, and it was nice sentiment, if a completely foreign one.

She hesitated on the edge of the clearing, not wanting to shout out a greeting, just in case he said he didn’t want to see her. She wasn't going to give him the option anyway, so Kara pulled out the ladder and climbed it to the window.

Lee was shirtless and sitting in front of the fire and Kara was momentarily riveted by the play of light off the long lines of muscle. She climbed in the window, drawn to him when she noticed the blood welling up on his forearm as he looked blankly at it. "Lee," she said softly. "Lee, are you alright?" She walked toward him slowly and he remained silent.

Kara closed the distance between them. His forearm, from wrist to elbow, was covered in a long, deep cut. In his other hand was a deadly sharp knife smeared with blood. Kara took the knife from him and threw it across the room as the sob welled up in her throat. "What are you doing?" she asked him, choking on the tears she never cried for herself. She grabbed a shirt from the floor and gently pressed it against his arm.

He blinked as if coming out of a daze. "You're here," he said in confusion.

"I'm here," Kara nodded.

"It's alright," he said moving to touch her cheek. He jerked back before he made contact.

"Why?" she whispered.

Lee looked down to where her hand was pressing down on his arm. He gently slid his arm out from under her hand, taking the shirt from her and wiping the blood off his arm before he began fashioning it into a makeshift bandage. "I didn’t do it on purpose," he motioned to a sharpening stone and a book in front of him.

"You were sharpening your knife and reading a book at the same time?" Kara's voice rose in annoyance. She was relieved that the wound hadn’t been purposely self-inflicted, but uneasy about the trance Lee had been in when she had climbed in the window.

"Yeah, I wasn't paying attention. My hand slipped and just sliced all the way down. Stupid, huh?" Lee asked looking down as his shirt began to stain red. "Shot?" he asked standing up and walking over to his makeshift bar on a long, low table.

Kara nodded and stood as well. "Why were—you were just watching it? You didn’t even hear me. Weren't trying to stop the blood?. . ." she trailed off.

"Small existential crisis," he shrugged lightly, making a joke out of it as he handed her a glass and knocked his back. He tilted his head and stared at the ceiling. "Ever think it would just be easier if you bled out on a floor?"

"No," Kara said flatly. "No," Lee smiled softly, looking at her for the first time that evening. "You wouldn’t, would you? And you’re right," he continued absently, picking up a different conversation, "I shouldn’t be grabbing you all the time. And if you want to tell me something, you will. I don’t need to be prying."

Kara stared at him, not willing to be distracted, "He did this to you."

"No one did anything to me," Lee said. "It's stupid. No reason to be so melodramatic about it." He shook his head in disgust. "Watching my arm bleed. I really am a freak."

"You are not!" Kara shouted, throwing her full glass on the floor, and listening to it break. She pulled up her tunic and grabbed his hand and rested it right on the scar, concentric circles carved into her skin. "Feel this? My mother and her advisor, Leoben, carved this into me. They call it the Eye, say that it should remind me that the gods are always watching." She put two fingers under Lee's chin and moved his gaze from her stomach to her eyes, her voice dropping to a ragged whisper. "There are all kinds of scars, Lee."

Meeting her pained gaze, he slowly dropped to his knees, wrapped his arms around her thighs, and pressed his lips against her scar. "I'm sorry," he breathed as he looked up at her, his cheek resting against her stomach.

Wrung dry and tired, Kara shuffled backwards, Lee following, not letting go, until she hit the bed and sat down on it. He shifted his arms to hug around her middle, and placed his head in her lap. She knew that he was probably getting blood on her clothes, but she didn’t care. "Come up here," she said, and Lee climbed onto the bed next to her.

They sat with their feet flat on the floor in silence, until Lee nudged her shoulder with his and smiled sadly at her. He scooted back on the bed, then lay back in the pillows and held out his hand to her. Kara took his hand and crawled up next to him. He pulled her down so that her head rested on his chest and his arms were around her. He pressed a kiss to her hair. "I'm glad you're here," his voice rumbled in his chest and Kara closed her eyes.

"I am too."   


* * *

Little by little, Lee began to exist beyond the confines of his tower and the length of his chain. Kara came to visit as often as the castle's schedule allowed. She lit up his life from the moment her bright blonde head rose above the window ledge until the moment her brighter smile bid him good-bye. He reveled in the challenge of her, her intelligence and instincts, the heat between them, the way she always came back, even when they fought. She understood how starved he was for contact and always let him hold her hand a little longer than necessary, brush back her hair, lean into her shoulder and countless small intimacies. His life became a series of individual moments; small bubbles of time strung together, all beginning and ending with Kara. In his darker moods when he lay in his bed alone, Lee sometimes wished he could wear those moments around his neck. Wrap himself up in those memories of smooth skin and sharp words that cut through his loneliness so that Kara's low voice was the last thing he ever heard.

And Lee came to understand that there were all sorts of cages in the world, not just the book-lined one he lived in. She'd tell him about the newest prince brought by for her mother's perusal as they lay in a patch of sunlight, practicing their French as his hand traced lazy patterns on her arm. He'd listen to the palace gossip she overheard from the maids as he leaned his head against her knee when she sat in the over-stuffed armchair by the fire on rainy mornings. She told him about her mother's violent obsession with Kara's destiny and Leoben's hands-on method of instruction. He heard her longing to take the stable's fastest horse and ride as far and as fast as she could, away from the trappings of her existence.

"So why don’t you?" he asked her one evening as they stood shoulder to shoulder at the window watching the sun set on another day.

"Why don't I . . . what?" she asked, turning to look at him with a half smile on her face, and his breath caught as the waning light reflected in her hazel eyes.

"Why don’t you take what you want? You aren't chained to anything. You can go anywhere. Become a nobody with no past and a limitless future if you wanted to." Lee looked out over the woods that seemed to stretch forever, voice dull. He didn’t want to lose her, but she was so unhappy.

Kara touched Lee's chin and turned his face towards hers. "Take what I want, huh?" Her smile grew wider. "If you insist." She brushed her lips lightly over his.

Lee stood stock still, not even breathing, not wanting to blunder or say the wrong thing, or grab the wrong body part. Kara's soft lips felt like a blessing from the gods he didn’t believe in. She gently pulled at his bottom lip with her teeth, leaving her hand on his face. She ran her tongue along the captured edge of his mouth before pulling back. "Do you know how to kiss a girl, Lee?" she teased him softly.

"I've read about it a lot," he smiled into her mouth as he sealed his lips over hers and slid his arms around her waist, anchoring Kara to him. And it was in her hot mouth and her hands on his skin and her sighs, that he found his escape. The breeze ruffled their hair and Lee felt the warmth leave the air as the sun finally disappeared.

"Lee," Kara whispered against his lips. "Lee, you can touch me. Touch me wherever you want." He cautiously slid a hand up her back even as she slid both hands down his chest. He brushed his knuckles over the swell of her hip while his other hand kneaded the back of her neck. Kara chuckled deep in her throat and he swallowed it, licking at it with his tongue. "Stop being the gentleman I know you aren't and _touch_ me," she laughed against his lips and demonstrated her point by grabbing Lee's ass with both hands.

He yelped, mouth disengaging from hers. She stood there, smug and grinning. Lee narrowed his eyes and tackled her. She was a much better fighter than he was, all the strength training and reading in the world not making up for practice, and there were enough knights willing enough to grapple with the curvy blonde in spite of any impropriety involved in rolling around on the ground with the queen's daughter. So, after a few minutes of struggling, Lee finally had to use his weight advantage to pin her to the floor and then proceeded to tickle her. Their laughs bounced through the air, breathless and happy, until Kara managed to control herself long enough to flip him onto his back. She straddled him, hands on either side of his head, trying to catch her breath and Lee lost his mind entirely. "I love you," he confessed, the words so quiet after the raucousness of their laughter.

Kara's face softened. She reached behind her to gently untangle the chain which had wrapped around his legs a few times in their tumble. She then leaned down into him, resting her breasts on his chest and clamping her legs more firmly around his hips. "And just what are you going to do about that?" she asked.

He reached up and threaded his fingers through the strands of her hair, stroked his other hand up her ribcage where there bodies were pressed together until it rested against the side of her breast and, never closing his eyes, never unlocking from her confident, smiling gaze, he kissed her again.   


* * *

Kara was panting for air; gasping, tearless sobs of revulsion as she sprinted into her room and slammed and locked the door, her skirts swirling around her. She leaned against it for a moment, and then pushed herself away as she deliberately channeled panic into rage. She rifled through her drawer and pulled out Lee's knife, the one she had confiscated from him the day before because it had been dull and needed sharpening and she told him that he was clearly not to be trusted with the task. She stared at its now gleaming edge, before sitting in front of the mirror of her vanity and placing it on the table in front of her.

She stared at her hair, riotous waves of blonde that tumbled past her waist. She was vain enough to prize it, woman enough to love the feel of Lee's fingers weaving through it as he held her close to him in their tower. She remembered how her father had tugged on her long pigtails with a smile as she whirled around him. But Leoben made that all fade away when he stroked it, curling it around his fingers as he droned on about the gods, sliding his forefinger and thumb up and down her braid when he spoke about destiny. Even when she wore it wrapped around her head, as close to the skull as she could get, he would lean in and inhale the scent of her hair. She itched to retaliate, bite off the fingers that dare touched her, but she had learned a long time ago to pick her battles with Leoben, as her mother always sided with him. So she choked down the bile and thought of more pleasant things.

Today had been the last straw. In light of her mother's intensifying quest for a husband for her daughter, she had instructed Leoben to talk to Kara about, as he put it, the physical act of love. He had made her kneel and recite several Scripture passages about marriage as he unbraided her hair and had then launched into over-detailed descriptions of sex. Kara had tried to think of Lee as Leoben's fingers combed through her hair. Thought of how he'd looked the first time he'd taken her nipple into his mouth and made her moan. She remembered the silky hard feel of him. She concentrated on their first time actually having sex, not even a week ago, Lee flipping back and forth between tentative nervousness and enthusiastic lust so quickly that she came with a shout of laughter. And, gods, as Leoben's smooth voice had described the male orgasm, his fingers tightening, she had wrapped the assurance of Lee's love around her tightly and broken free of her tormentor's grasp. Ignoring his demands that she sit back down, Kara had run.

She took one last look at her beautiful hair and began sawing it off with Lee's knife. She didn’t stop until it was chin length, ends ragged and uneven and piles of gold all around her. She ran her fingers through it and nodded once, mouth set and head light. She would re-sharpen his knife and go see Lee. Let him tell her how gorgeous she was. She'd let one of her ladies in waiting tidy it up later.

A pounding on the door and the imperious voice of her mother interrupted the plan. Kara contemplated running out her side door into the woods briefly, but Socrata's anger never lessened over time, it festered, so she opened the door.

The queen stood with Leoben and two palace guards behind her shoulder, all momentarily shocked by Kara's appearance.

"Mama," she began as they moved into her room, backing up involuntarily.

"Not another excuse, Kara, I am sick and tired of all your excuses. Leoben!" the queen yelled sharply and the thin blonde man came forward, eyes locked on Kara. "You _will_ learn not to defy me. We know what's best for you. We can guide you on your destiny."

Socrata motioned to the guards who moved further into the room and Kara was suddenly grabbed and held in place. She tried fight back, but the men were stronger. They anchored her to the chair as Leoben knelt in front of her on the shorn remnants of her hair. He took one of her hands in his.

"Break them," Socrata said moving to stand in front of her daughter. "We do this for your own good Kara, now recite the Scripture passages on obedience with me."   


* * *

Kara ran through the woods, cradling her mangled hand to her chest. She wasted no time on tears, no extra energy on anything but getting back to Lee and their little island in the woods. She came to a dismayed halt when she saw the ladder already up against the wall. She had forgotten the day. She would wait. She would wait in the bushes to the east, just like the first time. Kara leaned against a tree and watched the window.   


* * *

Lee sat down heavily on the chair in front of the fire, not bothering to watch Lampkin climb out of the window and into the night. _Five years_ , Lampkin had said. Five years before he would free Lee. Kara couldn't stay another five years. He had to get her to leave. As long as he knew that she was out there somewhere, that maybe he could join her one day.

The ladder clattering against the wall startled him, and he got up. "Kara!" Her pinched, white face appeared over his window. He moved to help her, but she shied away, keeping her hand close to her chest. So he put a supporting hand on her back. "What happened to you?" he gasped, his heart aching.

"My mother," she gritted out, leaning over to pull his knife from her boot and handing it to him. "You read everything Lee—do you know how to set bone?"

Lee nodded, swallowing down his questions, smoothing his hand over her newly short hair before helping her to the chair. He kissed her forehead and began to move away, but Kara's good hand shot out and grabbed his arm. She pulled him in close and kissed him desperately. He felt his hands flap helplessly, not wanting to cause pain, before he laid them gently on her face. He broke the kiss but kept his face close. "This is going to hurt, love." Kara nodded and let go of his arm.

Lee poured Kara an enormous glass of wine and handed it to her before he began gathering what he would need. He flipped open the knife, the one that he would have happily shoved into Leoben's heart given a chance, and cut strips from the cleanest shirt he could find as he watched her drink down the wine. He refilled her glass before stepping up to his bookshelf. He picked up one of his volumes of poetry, the one that was Kara's favorite, and sliced it's binding to cut off the thick back cover. He cut it into what he thought would be the best size for splints. "Do you need more wine?" Kara shook her head and Lee knelt before her and buried his face in her lap, taking deep breaths. He felt her fingers stroking his head and looked up as they tightened and pulled at his hair.

"Do it," she said, her voice harder than the iron he wore around his ankle. Lee closed his eyes briefly before taking her wounded hand gently in his own.   


* * *

After her bones were set and neatly splinted with poetry and worn cotton—a choice that had made her laugh with distraction when he told her, somewhere between fingers—Lee poured Kara more wine and sat in the chair opposite her own. "I think that's the farthest away you've ever sat from me," she said, face taut with pain, but eyes smiling.

"I thought you might want space," Lee said. Kara tilted her head and looked at him with such affection and exasperation that before Lee had even realized what he was doing, he was back next to her chair, his arm hooked around her calf and his head against her thigh. "Want to tell me want happened?" he asked and she told him, in too much pain to confess anything but the absolute truth.

Lee was quiet for a long time. Then he turned his face, rubbing it against her leg. "If I could get out of this tower, I’d hold him down while you broke all his fingers and toes and then I'd slice out his still beating heart and choke your mother with it."

"That's . . . colorful," Kara said, but she put her good hand on his shoulder and squeezed.

He turned so that he was before her on his knees again. He took her good hand in his and brought it to his lips. "Lampkin plans to free me in five years to run his utopia. You can't wait that long, Kara, even if you wanted too. They'll have you married off and gone before that or have broken every bone in your body. You need to get out of here now."

She snatched her hand from his grasp, "I am not leaving without you."

"And I can't get out of this chain," Lee said with frustration. "I've even thought about cutting off my foot, but then I wouldn’t be anything but a burden to you."

"Don't be ridiculous," Kara exclaimed impatiently. "There's got to be another alternative."

"Yes, you get out of here and I will find you when he finally lets me go. If you still want me, that is – "

"Stop it, Lee," Kara said sharply, "Stop being such a martyr." She softened her tone, "I won’t leave without you." She stood and Lee fell backwards before scrambling up and following her to the window. He put his arms around her and rested his chin on her shoulder as they looked out at the stars.

"There's still time. I'm not engaged yet." She rested her injured hand on top of his arms and hooked her other hand around his neck, leaning back into him even as he leaned into her. "Now, before you start thinking of anything stupid like attacking him and putting all our cards on the table, let's use our brains."

"You have a brain?" Lee breathed in her ear before running the very tip of his tongue along the rim.

"Shut up," Kara replied with mock irritation. "I happen to know the woman Lampkin sleeps with whenever he's visiting the castle. Tory is not only very bribe-able, but I could blackmail her into the poorhouse if I so chose. I'll talk to her. See what she knows."

"Okay," Lee said, "but be careful. We don’t want him finding out about us."

"What about us?" Kara asked, pressing back against Lee and dropping her arm from his neck to run it appreciatively up his flank, practically purring. "There is no us. There's nothing here."

"Nothing at all," Lee said solemnly, unlacing the back of her dress with one hand, keeping his other arm still and firm for Kara to rest her abused hand on. He kissed every inch he exposed to mid-back before Kara turned and rested her hand on his shoulder.

"I won't break," she said. "I won’t break and I need you." Lee's eyes searched hers before he gently kissed her and turned her back around to look out the window. He took both of her wrists in hand and guided them so that they rested over the window sill in a silent request that she not move them. He finished unfastening her dress until she was stripped bare before him and just Kara, in all her pale and lovely glory.

His hands moved over her soft skin and muscled back and he stepped up close behind her, pressing against her as he ran his hands over her breasts and she stood, uncharacteristically quiet and passive under his touch.

"What's wrong, Kara," he asked, resting his forehead against her back as he unbuttoned his own shirt and pulled it off his body.

Kara turned her face toward him, and he was surprised by its fierceness in the quiet of the moment. "I won’t leave you," she said again, a vow spoken with the stars as witness.

"Okay," Lee said as he stepped out of the rest of his clothes.

"Okay," Kara whispered a short time later when he slid into her and they both watched the boundless sky as they moved together with the hope of someday being free.


	3. Part III

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading to the end. Everyone blame the length on workerbee73. Had she let me grow Lee's hair, this would have been a lot shorter. I throw fairy dust in her general direction. Seriously, she was marvelous and I couldn’t have done it without her.

Kara practically flew through the woods. She was so late, so frakking, frakking late. The large ball, one of her mother's quarterly formal events began in less than an hour and she still smelled like Lee. His mouth had been all over her that afternoon. In fact, during the past few weeks, he'd been positively insatiable. Kara smiled to herself. There was nothing in the world like getting the full attention of a dedicated and passionate scholar. Made a girl lose track of time.

She pelted into the castle at a dead run, waved vaguely at her ladies in waiting with her newly healed hand as she tore off her clothes in her room, and practically dove head first into her bath before any one of the people waiting to dress her had a chance to see the faint red bruises that worked their way up her inner thighs. Kara sighed and leaned her head back against the edge of the tub, giving herself exactly two and a half minutes to relax before she began the arduous task of looking like a princess.

An hour later, hair clean and smooth, dress satin and green and jewels firmly around her neck, Kara descended into the main ballroom on the arm of a second cousin she loathed. She went through the motions, thinking all the while about picking up her skirts and running back to the arms of her lover until she saw Romo Lampkin talking to the old knight who had taught her how to shoot a bow an arrow.

She felt the murder rise up in her. He'd been trying to hide it, but she could tell the feeling that time was slipping away from them was starting to get to Lee. He had no where else to go, nothing else to think about trapped in that tower they had made their own. She had to find a way to save him. Kara moved purposely toward them, stopping several times to speak pleasantly to various acquaintances, chafing, but realizing that the only way to get to Lampkin was a surprise attack.

"Sir Kelly," Kara began with a polite smile.

"Princess," Sir Kelly smiled at her as he bowed and patted her shoulder as he rose. "I believe you've met Mr. Lampkin before."

"Oh, of course," Kara said, extending her hand, which Lampkin bowed over. A chain with a key laced to it swung out over her wrist as it escaped from his shirt and she immediately thought of Lee's manacle, wondering if that small key was the answer.

"Your highness," he said. "You look lovely tonight."

"If you'll excuse us Sir Kelly," Kara said. "Mr. Lampkin and I have something to discuss." The knight bowed and disappeared into the crowd. "What brings you here tonight, Mr. Lampkin?" Kara asked with deadly civility.

"Nothing of consequence Princess," Lampkin said, "Normal treaty witnessing and the like.” He looked at her inquisitively. “Was there something in particular you wish to speak to me about?"

Before Kara could utter another syllable, she was interrupted by a noise at the far end of the hall.

"May I have your attention," Socrata's authoritative voice brooked no refusal as it swelled over the crowd and everyone quieted down. "Princess Kara, please come up here." Kara made her way slowly toward the throne and the crowd parted obligingly for her. Socrata reached out a hand to her daughter and Kara took it, face schooled into a pleasant mask. "It is my great pleasure to announce that I have just signed the betrothal contract for my daughter, Kara."

The rest of the queen's words were lost as the blood drained from Kara's face. By sheer act of will, she remained upright and smiling politely. She accepted her mother's congratulations, and then stood by Socrata's side for two hours smiling at the meaningless advice, the clichéd good wishes—all the while thinking desperately of Lee, locked alone in their tower.

He was probably reading a book by the fire, or sleeping, or staring out the window and thinking of her. _This was going to kill him_ , Kara knew it. All that beautiful light that she had worked so hard to bring to his eyes was just going to die, all that fight and passion gone. Locked in a tower for another five years without Kara to make him feel loved and wanted and worthwhile. He'd never make it.

Kara made a final curtsy to her mother and walked with suitable almost-married-princess dignity back to her room, a pace that also suited her numb heart. She locked the door behind her and kept on walking, right out into her private gardens. She rucked up her skirts and scrambled over the palace walls, her diamonds sparkling in the cold moonlight as she dropped to the other side. This was the last conversation she wanted to have, but she couldn’t let Lampkin break the news to him, and putting it off would just make it harder. She took a deep breath of cold, clear air and ran into the trees.

* * *

_"Lee!"_

He started from his bed.

"Kara?" he murmured to himself, rubbing a hand over his face and swinging out of bed and stumbling over his chain to get to the window. He looked down and saw her in the moonlight, hair and jewels catching the light, skirt spread out around her. She was every inch the princess. He smiled. "Are you just teasing me, or are you coming up?"

"I need to tell you something," Kara said soberly. "I think it might be best if I did it from here."

"Okay," Lee said uncertainly.

She looked up at him. "I'll be up after, Lee, I promise, I just . . . don’t know if I can get through this if you touch me."

Lee really, really wanted to touch her right then. She looked so lost and alone. He strained against his chain, feeling it dig into his flesh and hold. He tamped down his fear and frustration and said as evenly as he could, "You don't have to be afraid to tell me anything."

"I'm engaged," she blurted out.

Lee felt all the air leave his lungs. He wanted to reassure her. Tell her that he wouldn’t let it happen, not if he had to chew off his foot with his teeth, but his open mouth made no sound.

"Lee?" she asked, so small and sad that his ability to speak came back. She'd always been strong for him. Now he could be strong for her.

"Come here, Kara," Lee said. "Come up here and let me touch you." He heard a faint sob as she ran to get the ladder, heavy material rustling over the grass. He had his hands on her before her head cleared the window sill, dragging her up and over and into his arms. She wrapped her legs around him and Lee stumbled to the bed, caught in his chains and her satin. He sat on the edge of the mattress, Kara clamped tight around him. "It's okay," he soothed.

"It isn't," Kara said fiercely into his neck.

"We can get you away from here," Lee said and grunted as Kara, impossibly, tightened her grip on him. "You speak a few other languages. We'll think of the best country we can. Maybe something by the sea," his voice slid into a nearly toneless cadence as he felt his life slip away from him with every word. "I'll give you my maps and make sure you know the customs--"

This time, Lee squeaked at how hard Kara was gripping him. She raised her head and stared at him with steely eyes. "I'm. Not. Leaving you," she said. "How many frakking times do I have to say it? I am _not_ leaving you."

"I need you to be happy, Kara," Lee pleaded. He closed his eyes and brought his hands to her face, resting his forehead against hers. "You have so much to offer, so much--" he choked on the words, needing to explain but not knowing how. "I never expected to love anyone, and yet here you are and I'm so tremendously lucky and--" he stopped again, shaking his head, feeling her skin against his. "I need to know that you are not stuck in a loveless marriage. I need you to be free."

"Now you listen to me, Leland Rampion," Kara said pulling her forehead back from his so that they could see each other's eyes clearly. "For whatever reason, you have it in your thick skull that I can frakking frolic by the sea and find someone else and not be worried about you, sitting here year after year," Kara closed her eyes briefly and breathed out. "What can I say or do to make you believe that I can’t be happy without you? I can’t be _free_ without you. If you're here and I'm there-." She buried her face back in his neck. "You can't make me go," she whispered.

And there is was. One of those life altering events whispered in the middle of the night. Lee felt his perception of the world shift, his understanding accepting that he was a person who not only loved but was loved in return. Slowly, he ran his hands over her shoulders and down her back to the buttons on her gown and he carefully began undoing them, one by one. Her grip loosened as his fingers smoothed over her spine. "There's a lot of underwear under there," she pointed out, trailing kisses down his neck. "Some cage-like thing that holds my breasts up, my waist in and my skirts out."

"I'll shout if I need help," Lee smiled, tilting his head to the side to encourage her attention.

"Hold on," she pulled back, frowning. "Are you just trying to distract me?"

"No," Lee said, patiently working to get her dress off, but she grabbed both of his ears to bring his face in front of hers and stared at him. He slid his nose against her cheek to rumble in her ear, "I believe you."

"Then what are we going to do?" Kara asked. He smiled as he felt her shiver under his touch.

"First, I am going to get you out of these clothes. Next, you are going to show me how much you love me, and then we are going to sleep," Kara began to protest, but Lee cut her off. "I'm not forgetting it, but we have enough time to get some rest."

"Lee?"

"Yeah," he answered as he tried to figure out how to pull off Kara's dress without letting her go.

"I love you."

He stilled and filled his lungs with Kara scented air. "I know," he breathed and turned his head to kiss her temple. “I know.”

* * *

Kara sat bolt right up in bed. "Tory!" she shouted.

Lee, who had been sleeping plastered against her, his chest pressed fully against her back, groaned and put a pillow over his head. "The name's Lee."

She punched his arm. "No—I totally forgot with all the 'til death do us part stuff. Last night, I saw Lampkin at the ball. He was wearing a small iron key around his neck. It looked like it would fit this," she said reaching under the covers to rattle the chain. "When he's in town, he sleeps with Tory. I totally outrank her. She can get the key and give it to me." Kara settled back, using the curve of Lee's body as a lounge. "Tell me I'm a genius."

Lee peeked out from under the pillow, "You're a genius."

Kara wriggled down and put her head under the pillow with Lee's and indulged in a long sweet kiss. "Gotta go, Lee," she said, wriggling out of his reach as he tried to roll her over onto her back. "I have to rescue my princess from the tower."

Lee shrugged, "If this key theory of yours works out, you can call me whatever you want."

* * *

_Gods_. Kara's head throbbed from listening outside the door to Lady Tory frakking Romo Lampkin. Finally the noises stopped. Ten minutes later, Tory cracked the door open and passed Kara the key from around his neck. Kara nodded her thanks, slid the chain over her neck, sprinted to her room and ran out the door that opened into the gardens. She made her way quickly to the tower, her heart in her throat at the prospect of Lee free of his chains.

She practically leaped up the ladder and was rewarded for her efforts by Lee swinging her into the window and into his arms, kissing her all over her face as she laughed, "I have it! I have the key." He offered his leg to her, hopping slightly on one foot as he did.

"You're ridiculous," Kara said, pushing him back onto the bed. She took the key from around her neck and handed it to him. "You do it," she said softly. And Lee took the key and turned it in the lock, opening the iron cuff. He looked up at Kara, speechless. And she in turn dropped to her knees in front of him, mirroring his gesture from nights before. She traced the newly exposed skin with her fingers, the only inches of his body she hadn’t tasted. She winced at the scars she saw, the ones she hadn't been able to see before, some silver with age, others red and newer. Scratches from a desperate man, lines where the metal had bit into flesh when Lampkin had been slow to replace the cuff as Lee grew. They both bore the marks of captivity. She lifted his leg up and kissed him right on his freshly exposed ankle, right where leg met foot. She held up her broken hand and he brushed his lips against her palm. 

"Touching," Romo Lampkin's presence filled the space around them, and Lee and Kara jumped to their feet.

"It is touching," Lee replied coldly, placing one more kiss on Kara's hand before letting it go and stepping forward.

Lampkin's voice was mocking as he looked at them, "The princess and the pauper—is that the story you’re living out, Leland?"

"I am going to live out whatever godsdamned story I want to," Lee said. Kara remained quiet. This wasn't her fight.

"What will you do? How will you support your lady when neither of you know how to garden?"

Lee matched the lawyer in a condescending smirk. "I am one of the most educated people in the world, devoid of societal influence and pre-conceptions, taught by this century's greatest attorney. I speak, write and read seven languages. Kara can out-ride, out-fight and out-strategize any General in the world. She can converse with kings and servants alike. So I pose the question back to you, Lampkin: What _can't_ we do?"

Lampkin looked thoughtful, "There is still the matter of running that small country of mine. Talents like yours and Princess Kara's should not go to waste."

"Are you frakking serious?" Kara asked Lampkin.

"Yeah, he is," Lee said shaking his head. "Told you he was single-minded. Look, go get your things. I need to handle this on my own."

"You won’t get into any trouble without me?" Kara asked.

"I promise to behave," Lee smiled.

She nodded and then stalked over to the lawyer. "You took a baby from his parents. You chained him in a room and deprived him of food. You made him believe that he was less than human." She walked into Lampkin's space, getting right into his face. "If you know what's best for you, you will not come near me, or I may forget that Lee is civilized and slit your throat from ear to ear." She ran her finger lightly over his neck in demonstration. "I suggest you remember that."

* * *

"My little bird's ready to fly away from the nest," Lampkin mocked once Kara had climbed out the window.

"Shut up," Lee said. He had been waiting for this day for his entire life, and he wasn't about to let his captor's snark ruin the moment.

"What the frak are _you_ doing here?" Kara's angry voice floated up, and Lee heard a crash, even as he was running to the window. A thin blonde man was standing in front of Kara, a horse in the shadows of the trees, and the ladder laying flat on the ground. The man threw the contents of a vial into Kara's eyes, and she screamed in pain.

"Kara!" Lee yelled, cursing at his own helplessness. He was finally unchained, but just as trapped as before.

"Blinded to your destiny by willfulness," the man said, circling her as Kara clutched at her eyes, "blinded by vanity and arrogance. Blinded by lust," he snarled at Lee. "Now blinded by the will of the gods through my own unworthy hands. May it bring you enlightenment when you cannot see the temptations of the world."

"Leoben!" Lee shouted his name like a curse, recognizing him for who he must be. "I will find you, and I will break every bone in your body."

"Hear your lover scream, Kara," Leoben taunted, "trapped in a tower. How long to you supposed he'll live?"

"Lee?" Kara called out.

"Don't worry about me," Lee said. "I will make it out of here just fine."

"That's enough," Leoben said. He punched Kara hard in the jaw and she hit the ground, unconscious.

"Kara?" Lee cried. There was no answer. Leoben didn’t even turn around as he slung the princess over the saddle of his horse and led it into the forest.

Lee whirled on Lampkin. "Did you bring that bastard here?" he demanded.

"Of course not. I have nothing to do with the religious fanatic. He must have followed me as I followed the princess." Lee walked over to his bed and yanked off the sheets that he and Kara had woken up tangled in just that morning. He pulled out his knife and began shredding it. "What are you doing?" Lampkin asked, standing in the middle of the room.

"What the frak does it look like I'm doing?" Lee asked, continuing to shred. "Making a rope to get us the hell out of here." He looked up suddenly. "You know more about plants and herbal remedies then I do. I have a book over there," he nodded toward the mantle, "on antidotes. Maybe you can find something to help Kara."

Lampkin nodded and began thumbing through the book. "I already know the antidote, as there is only one potion to cause blindness that can be made with the plants indigenous to this area." He stopped turning pages. "Ah, here it is. It's very simple really, I can use the palace gardens and have it ready in an hour or so."

Lee had finished shredding and was now tying the ends of the sheet strips together. "Good. You'll take me to the castle; I assume that's where Leoben took her. I'll go get Kara and you get the plants and we'll fix her."

"Just one small problem, Leland," Lampkin smiled self-deprecatingly, "What's in it for me?"

"You get out of this tower and I don't disembowel you with my teeth," Lee said briskly, continuing to knot the rope together.

"Not good enough," Lampkin replied amicably, "I know how to fix your princess and you don't. Surely that's worth something."

Lee stopped his motions, face hard. "Fine, Romo. What do you consider a fair deal?"

"One year of your life."

"No," Lee said, "You are not getting me trapped back up here again."

"Not here, running my little kingdom by the sea," Lampkin replied. "One year fulfilling your responsibilities and I will help you get to the palace and cure your Kara of her blindness."

Lee tied the final knot in his makeshift rope. The last thing he wanted to do was to be beholden to Romo Lampkin, but there was no time. Kara moved further and further out of his reach with every second that passed. "Fine," said Lee. He wound the rope around the bed post to anchor it. He threw the rest of it out the window and leaned out. There was about a five foot drop from the end of the rope to the ground. Good enough. "Let's go," Lee said. "The sooner we help Kara rescue herself, the sooner I can be finished with you." He grasped the sheets with both hands and, for the first time he could remember, Lee left the tower.

* * *

Kara woke up to pain and darkness. She pushed down her fear and assessed the situation. Leoben had blinded her, Lee and Lampkin were trapped in the tower and she was hanging upside down on a horse. She heard Leoben mumbling from somewhere in front of her, leading the horse to the palace, she presumed.

She forced herself to think through each problem separately. Lee was stuck, but unchained. He would find a way out and come looking for her. She offered up a quick prayer to the gods, asking them to take care of him while she couldn't and moved on to her next issue. There wasn't a thing that she could do about the blindness, at least not at the moment, so attempting to run away from Leoben in the woods would do her no good. She would wait until they got back to the palace, got back to her mother, before she made her move.

After what seemed like hours, the horse's hooves began clicking on cobblestone. She feigned unconsciousness and allowed Leoben to carry her into the castle, into her mother's chambers.

"What did you do to her?" Socrata asked.

"Your Majesty," Kara felt Leoben attempt a bow, "I followed her to a tower in the forest where a young man lives. It appears that they know each other quite well. I used a blinding potion on her, something that has an easy antidote, knocked her out so that she wouldn’t struggle and brought her to you."

"Well, lay her down," Kara was placed on a chaise. "Now what?" asked Socrata. "What do we do with my sullied and blind daughter? What prince will want her now? What about her destiny? Nothing is clear."

"My queen," Leoben said, "I can easily restore the princess' eye sight, and the prince need never know about her lover. He's trapped up with the only other person who knew of his existence. They've been neutralized. As for her destiny; the gods work in mysterious ways, their paths and reasons unknown by their humble servants. Princess Kara will go on to do great things, just as they have promised."

Kara had heard enough. She stood up quickly, keeping her hand on the arm of the chaise for support, "I will go on to do great things," Kara said. "But not because you twisted my father's words into false prophecy. We are all equal in the eyes of the gods, no one above the other. No one is set apart by special destiny and fate."

"You know nothing, Kara, after all the time we've spent on your education, you still know nothing." Socrata's voice dripped with disdain and Kara shut down that last part of herself that had hoped that doing what her mother said, obeying as best she could, she would one day win her approval. She would mourn, but she would do it later.

"Mother, you made me memorize the Scriptures, and the only consistent themes running through them is that the gods love us and that we were given free will. Nothing is set in stone, no matter what Leoben says. And we are all worthy of love, no matter what you think."

Leboen began to speak, but Socrata cut her off. "How about this then, little girl?" she asked, "You shape up and honor your betrothal and we'll heal your eyes, or you can walk right out that door this moment and never come back." Socrata's voice was triumphant, but then, she never had known her daughter very well.

"Good-bye, Mama," Kara said without hesitation and made her way slowly, searchingly, out of her mother's rooms, through the great hall and out the door.

* * *

When Lee and Lampkin arrived at the palace, they found it in an uproar. The princess was blind and had walked out into the forest on her own, refusing any help. The queen and Leoben were holed up in the queen's rooms so there was no direction to follow. People were milling about in the courtyard, unsure how to behave, unable to believe what they had just seen.

"Go to the garden," Lee said ignoring the way his former teacher's eyebrow raised at the order. "Start brewing or whatever it is you need to do to make the antidote. I'm going after Kara."

"You don’t know your way. You'll get lost," Lampkin pointed out.

"All I have to do is find Kara," Lee replied. "She can guide us home."

"A blind girl," Lampkin stated flatly.

" _Kara_ ," Lee said firmly. "She can do anything."

He left Lampkin standing in the courtyard and retraced his steps into the woods. She couldn’t have gone far, and Lee was pretty sure that she would at least attempt to make her way back to him. He fought down his panic as the trees closed around him. He had no real idea of where he was and no sense of direction. So he decided to walk in a straight line in what he thought was basically the way to the tower. He began calling her name at intervals.

As the minutes ticked on, Lee's fear grew. He had been able to put it aside while there was an actual plan in motion. When he had been thinking about how to get into the palace and how to get Lampkin the herbs he needed to make the antidote he had been able to focus on the next step. Now all could do was search and think about what could go wrong. _What if Leoben had fatally injured her and she was lying on the ground dying, unable to call out for him? Or what if she had wandered over a cliff or into a fast moving river or into a bear's den?_ "Kara!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, giving voice to his pain and doubt and terror.

"Lee!" he heard clearly. He whirled around and started running in what he thought was the direction of her voice.

"Where are you?" he called again.

"Stop moving you idiot," her voice came faintly from a different direction. "You don’t know anything about woods. Stay put and I'll come to you." Lee stood stock still, hardly daring to breathe. "It would help if you said something. You know, so I can find you."

"Um, Lampkin is back at the palace, brewing the antidote," Lee said. "He can give you your sight back."

"Thank the gods," Kara said, closer still, but moving slowly. "How did you get him to agree to that?' Lee told her the story of their escape, the state of the palace and, hesitantly, what he had agreed to for the sake of her eyes. "I think that you can have your mother declared incompetent," Lee said. He hadn't heard Kara's voice in awhile, but he kept talking anyway. "Lampkin can draw up the papers and essentially hand control of the kingdom over to you. Judging from the way the courtiers were running around, there would be no protest, except from Leoben, and I'm thinking about dismembering him."

"That isn't very enlightened of you." He whirled around, and there was Kara slowly making her way toward him. He approached her carefully, the relief filling him to nearly bursting.

"I don't feel very enlightened when it comes to that monster," he said softly. Lee reached out and caught her reaching hands with his and pulled her in. "Kara," he affirmed with his face in her hair. Her hands slid all over him and they stood in silence breathing each other in.

"You're going to set me up as queen and then go off to run your own country?" Kara asked, pulling back slightly and pushing her finger hard into his chest. " _That's_ your brilliant plan?"

"It was the only way at the time," Lee protested, wrapping his arms tighter around her. "The brilliant plan is to set it up as a representational democracy so that Lampkin can’t get his filthy hands on it after I'm through and come back here to you to be your—well, whatever you want me to be. If you'll still want me in a year, that is."

"We're back to that again?" Kara asked in exasperation. She began dropping kisses all over his face. "The only thing about you that I don’t want is your incessant self-loathing."

"I'll miss you," Lee said, laughing as a sloppy kiss caught his chin.

"You aren't leaving yet," Kara said. "We have some things to take care of first. Sight to restore, mother to commit, Leoben's demise to plan, a betrothal to break and we have to come up with something really awful to do to Lampkin."

Lee pulled the small iron key on the thin chain out of his pocket and wrapped Kara's fingers around it before sliding the necklace over her head. "We're free," he said softly.

Kara kissed him thoroughly, nipping at his lip with her teeth as she pulled away. "Let's go home. Tell me what you see."

So Lee and Kara made their very slow way back to the palace. They were greeted by Lampkin, who immediately administered the fast-working antidote to Kara and then held up the paperwork that would strip Socrata of her crown. It had already been signed by all of the queen's advisors and knights, with the exception of Leoben. Kara ordered the guards to arrest her mother and Leoben and put them in the dungeon until she was ready to deal with them. Then she pulled Lee into her rooms and locked the door.

They didn’t come out for a long time.

* * *

Dear Kara,

That military order convent sounds like an excellent place for you mother. I don’t think you could have found a better home for her. And I think your idea about chopping off little bits of Leoben while he's still alive is a good one. You could boil the parts and feed them to your hawks. I think you should share that with him.

Things are fine here. We're working on setting up an educational system and still trying to get that old radish farmer on the council to sign the Constitution. He wrote half of it, so I'm not sure what his problem is.

I wish you could be here. My window faces east, and seeing the sun rise over the ocean every morning is amazing. I can almost see the way the light would crawl up your bare skin, from toes to nose. It is much too warm here to wear anything to bed. I think you should visit.

Nine months left.

I love you and think about you every day,

Lee

* * *

Lee,

Leoben really appreciated your suggestion about dipping him in honey and leaving him naked in a bear's den. Thank you. In the meantime, I still think that Lampkin needs to be punished in some way. You were chained up, for gods' sake! You can't let him get away with thinking that he was right. Who knows what he'll do next.

I'm glad that you got your Constitution signed. You might want to think about making overtures to other countries for alliances and trade treaties. I know you want them to learn for themselves, but these things take time and you are coming home in six months, even if I have to drag you here by your hair.

I brought in another accountant. The financials were in such a mess that it's taking several people to go through it. Looks like there's plenty of money in the coffers, we just need to organize. (Shut up.) Oh! I finally managed to break that betrothal. They were trying to claim breach of contract, so I sent their diplomat to visit my mother. They have now agreed that she was not in a fit state to make that deal and, therefore, I am not obligated to the contract. Like I would have anyway. So I'm now officially unattached. What are you going to do about it?

My country's bigger than your country,

Kara

* * *

Dear Kara,

Campaign season is easily the strangest, most entertaining thing I've ever seen. It's also exhausting. The swearing in can’t come soon enough. In the meantime, would you mind sending Sir Kelly or someone you trust out here for a month or so? I don’t know anything outside of a book about training soldiers and I want to make sure that they can defend themselves. Just in case.

I've been thinking about Lampkin and Leoben a lot lately, as we've been really focusing on structuring a legal system over here. What do you think about locking them in the tower—Lampkin for five years, but Leoben for the rest of his life? We can talk about it when I get back if you want. It'll take some maneuvering to get Lampkin anywhere near your kingdom, but that's what I'm leaning towards. Can you imagine those two trapped together? I can’t think of a worse thing for either of them. In the meantime, tell Leoben that I have a very sharp knife that would be perfect for peeling the skin off his body like a grape and that I look forward to seeing him again.

I have to go. It sounds like one of the candidates just challenged the other to a turnip growing contest to select the winner. Not only is that not very democratic, it'll also take awhile. Turnip season is not for another nine months and I'm out of here in three.

Soon to be out of a job,

Lee

P.S. I am not proposing to you via carrier pigeon, so stop trying to make me jealous of all the kings propositioning you. You already know my intentions.

* * *

Lee,

Hopefully you'll be getting this the day before Gaeta's swearing in. I'm really proud of your little country. Sure they've had some issues, but look at them! Sir Kelly couldn't say enough good things about the people there and the work you've done. I guess I'm proud of you too. Mostly I just need to see you. It's been nearly a year since we've . . . well, you are well aware of what it's been a year since.

I locked Leoben in the tower yesterday. We'll catch up to Lampkin someday. Oh to be a fly on that wall when they're stuck in there together.

You are just being ridiculous, you know. I don’t care if you never ask me because you don’t have a choice in the matter. I'm an actual queen now and I can’t just shack up with you; certain appearances should be maintained. And besides, I'm tired of deflecting visiting monarchs. Lee, you stubborn ass, will you marry me? I do have the key to your shackles, you know.

See you soon, 

Kara

* * *

Lee walked through the halls of Kara's palace to her rooms. She hadn't been there to greet him in public, but Lee was glad that their first moments would be alone. He tapped on her door, heart in his throat. He hadn't seen his beautiful girl in a year, and he was a little terrified.

"Come in," she said, and Lee opened the door to find her sprawling over a sofa, brash and defiant, hair longer and tumbling over her shoulders. She was wearing nothing but his key around her neck. Reveling in the sense of relief that flooded through him, Lee dropped to his knees where he stood and shuffled the short distance to her. He buried his face in her stomach, right against her scar and inhaled deeply. "Lee?" she asked breathlessly as he kissed his way up the center of her body until his face hovered an inch over hers.

"Yes," he said, kissing her soft mouth. "Yes," he murmured, catching her face in his hands and stroking his thumbs over her cheekbones. "Yes," he whispered in her ear as Kara's arms came around him and he felt her smile curve against his neck.


End file.
